Panel: LGBT Rights in Russia at FotoWeekDC

Join the Pulitzer Center for "LGBT Rights in Russia" at FotoWeekDC 2015 on Thursday, November 12. Grantees Nora FitzGerald and Misha Friedman, and special guest Dmitry Chizhevsky, a Russian who was a victim of anti-LGBT violence in St. Petersburg will speak as part of this panel discussion.

FitzGerald discusses her reporting on Russia's government crackdown on the LGBT community and its impact on the AIDS epidemic in Russia, which Friedman shares images of the LGBT community in Russia and Crimea, exploring the effects of homophobic rhetoric on the community.

Chizhevsky, now lives in Washington, D.C., and is seeking political asylum. In November 2013, Chizhevsky was the victim of a hate crime in St. Petersburg. He was at a community party at the local LGBT center when assailants burst in shouting anti-gay epithets and shooting people randomly with a pellet gun. As a result, he lost the sight in one eye.

Friedman photographed Chizhevsky in the hospital in St. Petersburg. There was no arrest at the time of the attack and a rather lackluster investigation, as often happens in Russia with these crimes. The violent attack reflects a disturbing trend of harassment and intimidation of the LGBT community, a trend that has worsened with the government crackdown of the past few years.